Paint can brim and wiper



Nov. 15, 1960 L. sAssE 2, 7

PAINT CAN BRIM AND WIPER Filed April 3, 1959 INVENTOR. & Lows SASSE FAINT 'CAN BRIM AND WHPER Louis Sasse, 6515 Montana Ave., Hammond, 1nd. Filed Apr. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 863,896

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-90) This invention relates to improved combined brirns and brush wipers for paint cans.

The primary object of the invention is to provide combined devices of the character indicated which comprise rings to fit in the channels around paint can tops, when the covers thereof are removed, and serve to prevent accumulation of paint in these channels while at the same time producing return flow into the cans of any paint accumulating on the brims from any cans, so as to eliminate any need for cleaning the channels before restoring the covers in the can tops to prevent wasteful and unsightly hardening of paint therein, the devices further comprising brush or paint roller wiping bars extending across the rings at locations therein which assure fullwidth wiping of brushes and positive return flow of paint wiped from the brushes into the cans.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in devices of the character indicated above, pouring spouts which are so located on the rings, with reference to the wiping bars and the return flow means thereof, that paint present on the spouts, the rings, and the bars, flows back into the cans, after pouring operations.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple, durable, inexpensive and readily cleaned devices of the character indicated above, which can be readily molded or compressed materials, of non-corrosive character, such as plastic or fiber glass.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a paint can having a device of the invention installed thereon;

Figure 2 is an enlarged bottom plan view of said device;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse section, taken on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an exploded, further enlarged and fragmentary vertical transverse section taken through Figure 1 and showing the device elevated out of engagement with the paint can brim;

Figure 5 is a top perspective view, on the scale of Figure 1, of another form of device of the invention; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse section, taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like and related numerals designate like and related parts throughout the several views, and first to Figures 1 to 4 thereof, the numeral 10 generally designates the open top or brim of a conventional paint can 12. The brim 10 comprises a sheet metal annular body having at its outer peripheral edge a convex rounded flange 14 clamped over a bead 16 on the upper edge of the can side wall 18 and having a side wall 19. The brim 10 further comprises an outer annular horizontal flange 20, at the lower end of the side wall 19, extending inwardly from and displaced p, 2,960,257 Patented Nov. 15, 1960 below the flange 14, which merges into a depending annular gutter 22. The gutter 22 has an outer vertical side wall 24, a bottom wall 26, and an inner vertical side wall 28. The inner side wall 28 rises above the horizontal flange 20 and has a bead 30 on its upper end which is slightly depressed below the top of the convex flange 14. The usual paint can cover (not shown) has depending annular portions which engage in the channel 32 which is defined by the above described brim structure, for closing the can 12.

When paint is poured from the can 12 it is usually diflicult or impossible to prevent some of the paint from spilling into and accumulating in the channel 32, thereby rendering a cleaning operation necessary, if waste of paint, an unsightly condition, and difliculty in applying and subsequent removing the cover, are to be avoided.

In accordance with the present invention, these difliculties are eliminated by the application in the paint can groove 32 of a device, such as is shown in Figures 1 to 4, and generally designated 34.

The device 34 comprises a preferably solid, and preferably one-piece, monolithic annular non-metallic body 36 which is relatively wide and is slightly larger in diameter than the can 12 and, permissibly, of a somewhat larger diameter than the convex flange 14 of the can brim 10. The top or upper surface 38 of the body 36 is surrounded, at the body, by an upstanding annular paint retaining rim 40. The surface 38 is radially inwardly declining paint-draining surface for returning into the can 12, any paint accumulating on the surface 38 and prevented from moving radially outwardly off the peripheral edge 42 of the body 36 by the retaining rim 40. As shown in detail in Figure 4, the draining surface 38 includes a concave vertical portion 44, which constitutes the inner side of the rim 40, and which merges at its lower edge into the outer edge of a relatively flat, radially inwardly declining portion 46, which terminates at the inner peripheral edge 48 of the body 36. The inner edge 48 projects inwardly beyond the inner side of the can brim .10, and defines a relatively thin lip so that paint flowing downwardly and inwardly along the drain surface portion 46 is not slowed up in its return into the can by adherence to a relatively large surface of the device, or to the inner side wall of the brim 10.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the outer peripheral edge 42 of the body 36 is formed in the lower part thereof with an outer annular groove 50 having a horizontal top wall 52 which serves as a shoulder to bear conformably upon the convex brim flange 14, and a side wall 54 to bear conformably against the inward side of the brim side wall 19. The groove 50 extends to the flat bottom surface 56 of the body 36, and the bottom surface 56 is spaced sufliciently below the groove top wall 52 that the bottom surface 56 can reach and bear upon the horizontal brim flange 20.

In its radially inward side the body 36 is formed with an inner annular groove 58, which is spaced below the draining surface 38 and has a concave top wall 60 to conformably bear upon the convex bead 30, on the inner gutter side wall 28, and a vertical side wall 62 to bear conformably against the outer side of the inner side wall 28. For reaching conformably into and occupying the gutter 22, an annular rib 64 depends from the bottom surface 56, at the inner edge thereof and flush with the side wall 62 of the inner groove 58. As shown in Figure 3, the rib 64 can be of such vertical cross section that its lower edge 66 is spaced upwardly from the bottom wall 26 of the gutter 22.

As also shown in Figures 2 and 3, the top wall 52 of the outer groove 50 is provided, at circumferentially spaced intervals around the device, with slots or notches peripheral or outer edge of the 68 which have top walls 70 which are spaced above the can brim bead flange 14, when the device 34 is installed in a can brim 10, so that an instrument can be readily inserted in the notches between, the flanges 14 and the notch top walls, for easy prying-ofl of the device.

It will be understood that the formations of the device 34 described above are such that they fit closely in the brim channels, preferably with sufliciently close fits that the device is retained frictionally in place, as when the can is tilted for pouring paint therefrom. The fit of the formations of the device 34 to the can brim lltl'prevents paint from getting between the device and the portions of the brim engaged thereby, when the can is tilted for pouring paint, in which case the paint in the can flows readily over the inner gutter side wall, the inner edge or lip 48 of the device, thence either directly off the lip 48 into the receiving container (not shown) or across the draining surface 38 and rim 40, into the container.

The device 34 further comprises a paint brush wiper bar or rod 72, preferably of round cross section, which extends chordally across the annular body 36, adjacent one side thereof, and which is designedly disposed on a level below the lip 40, so that the paint wiped off a brush or paint roller applied against the bar 72 will not deposit on the drain surface 38, except in cases of spatter caught upon the surface 38, but will drain directly through the aperture of the body 36 which is defined by the lip 40. The bar 72 is straight and of sufficient length to accept the full width of a paint brush, so that paint on the brush bristles will be evenly and effectively wiped therefrom for the full width thereof, without distortion of the bristles.

The wiper bar 72 can be integral with the body 36, as by being formed between lugs 74 extending inwardly from and depending below the lip 40, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 5.

The modified device of the invention, shown in Figures and 6, and generally designated 34a, is the same in construction as the device 34 of Figures 1 to 4, except for the addition of a pouring spout 76. The spout 76, preferably formed integral with the annular body 36a, is crescent-shaped and is formed on the upper edge of the retaining rim 40a, and extends radially outwardly and upwardly from the rim, with its concave edge 78 merged at its ends, as indicated at 80, into the upper edge of the rim 40a. 7

The spout 76, as shown in Figure 5, is located on the body 36a at a point diametrically opposite the wiper bar 72a, so as to avoid interference from the bar 720 in pouring, and extends about one-third of the distance around the body 36a.

Although there has been shown and described herein preferred forms of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structures of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claim appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

In combination, an annular paint can brim comprising an outer rounded flange having a depending sidewall at its inward side, a horizontal annular flange on the lower end of said sidewall extending radially inwardly from the inward side of said sidewall, an upwardly opening annular gutter having an outer vertical sidewall fixed to and depending from the inward edge of the horizontal flange, a bottom wall spaced downwardly from the horizontal flange, and an inner vertical sidewall rising above said horizontal flange and having a head on its upper end, said head being depressed below said outer rounded flange, an annular body removably seated in said brim, said body having an outer peripheral edge formed with a first annular groove supportably receiving the outer rounded flange, said body having a first under portion at the lower end of said groove bearing upon said horizontal flange, a second under portion inward of said first under portion and extending therebelow and engaged in said gutter, a second annular groove formed in the inward edge of the body and supportably receiving said bead and the inner sidewall of the gutter, said body having an inward edge portion above said second groove which constitutes a lip reaching inwardly beyond the inner sidewall of the gutter and has a free annular edge,,said body having an inwardly and downwardly angled paint draining surface on its upper side which reaches inwardly to said free annular edge.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,580,936 Wansner Apr. 13, 1926 2,251,808 Rutkowski Aug. 5, 1941 2,268,241 Brueckel Dec. 30, 1941 2,546,040 Murray Mar. 20, 1951 2,570,426 Cassidy Oct. 9, 1951 2,591,482 Weltlich Apr. 1, 1952 2,627,367 Bork Feb. 3, 1953 2,646,193 Best July 21, 1953 2,660,333 Paxton Nov. 24, 1953 2,720,346 Compton Oct. 11, 1955 2,722,347 Henke Nov. 1, 1955 2,786,614 Giusto l Mar. 26, 1957 2,842,286 Beyer July 8, 1958 2,873,881 Nichols Feb. 17, 

